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| Make a Living was Charlie Chaplin's very first film made in 1914 |
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| Chaplin made a second film, Kids Auto Races at Venice in 1914, but this was the first time he had worn the "tramp" costume. The hat and the pants were given to him by Fatty Arbuckle. He wore size 14 shoes that were so big that he had to wear the shoes on the wrong foot to keep them on. The tramp was a man who had manners and clothes with dignity of a gentleman. Chaplin retired the character in the film Modern Times in 1936. |
Charlie Chaplin was not only a Hollywood legend, but he lived one of the most fascinating lives. He was an English comic actor,composer and director. He was best known in the silent era for his films. He was born on April 16, 1889. There are conflicting reports on where; one report was in Walworth, London and the other story is that he was born in a Gypsy caravan in Smethwich, Staffordshire. Both of his parents were entertainers. They separated by the time Chaplin was three years old and his father (who was an alcoholic), had died by the time he was 12. Chaplin made his first visit to the US in 1910 and stayed for 2 years. On October 2, 1912 Chaplin left for America a second time with his friend, Arthur Stanley Jefferson (who later became known as, Stan Laurel). Laurel and Chaplin had shared a boarding room together in America. He made 2 films in 1914;
Make a Living and
Kids Auto Races. In 1916 Chaplin was paid 670,000 dollars to make a dozen 2-reel comedies.
Easy Street,
One A.M. and
The Pawn Shop were 3 of the twelve made
By the end of WWI Chaplin was one of the most famous stars around the world. He was known for mime, slapstick and visual comedy routines. He wrote and directed most of his films. The French silent film comedian, Max Linder was Chaplin's role model. By 1919, Chaplin co-founded
United Artists with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and DW Griffith. Chaplin made,
Gold Rush in 1925 and
The Great Dictator in 1940 which was Chaplin's first talking film. Many people felt that the
Great Dictator was an act of defiance against Nazism. The movie was filmed and released one year before the US had entered into WWII. In the 1950's, Chaplin was accused of being anti- American and was said to be involved in anti- American activities. In 1952, Chaplin had gone to London to go to a movie premiere of
Limelight and when it was time to return to America, Hoover made it impossible for him to come back. Chaplin made 2 films following his exile to Europe. He in 1957 made
King in New York and in 1967 he made
The Countess From Hong Kong with Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando. In these films, Chaplin had written, starred, produced and directed. In the late 1960's Chaplin became frail; he worked on his silent films between the years 1969 and 1976 and composed music for his silent films and had re released them.. In 1972 he won an Academy award and in 1974 he published,
My Life in Pictures. It was a pictorial biography. He got very ill in the seventies. He died in 1977 and by the time he passed away he could not communicate and was in a wheel chair. On March 1, 1978 Chaplin's corpse was stolen by some Swiss mechanics who hoped to receive ransom money. The thieves were caught and the corpse was buried near Lake Geneva and is 6 feet under a heavy piece of cement. Charlie Chaplin would be 122 years old on April 16, 2011. George Bernard Shaw once said, 'Chaplin was the only genius to ever come out of the movie industry.' He was a brilliant businessman who had so much talent. He, without a doubt is a true Hollywood legend.
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